Jesse and their ragtag group of friends have found themselves in new territory in the fourth episode of Minecraft: Story Mode Season Two. While the setting has potential, the execution present here leaves something to be desired

Summary3.0Thug

Overall0

Summary rating from user's marks. You can set own marks for this article - just click on stars above and press "Accept".

Minecraft: Story Mode Season Two Episode Four Review

Jesse and their ragtag group of friends have found themselves in new territory in the fourth episode of Minecraft: Story Mode Season Two. While the setting has potential, the execution present here leaves something to be desired.

Minecraft: Story Mode Season Two Episode Four Review

After escaping the Sunshine Institute in episode three, “Below the Bedrock” sees Jesse in a subterranean area full of monsters and odd denizens. The thing is, there is no rhyme or reason to any of these characters. Characters include a ragtag bunch of people fighting to survive, a group of villagers who idolize the former admin Fred, and a ninja who appears out of nowhere. It’s all random for the sake of randomness, and none of it is consistent with one another.

This extends to the storytelling too. After being deadset on escaping, the focus is now on taking down the Admin. To do that, they need an object from Fred. However, the way to do this is by winning the chance to spend a night in his house, or taking on some challenges in a conveniently placed area. It feels like busywork, and the revelation at the end is cringeworthy. Sure, this is made for kids, but this is one episode that opts for wackiness for the sake of wackiness rather than concise storytelling.

There is also some inconsistencies. During my playthrough, multiple characters would disappear, and then reappear an hour later with no explanation. Other characters are introduced and disappear after five minutes, with no backstory or context. You get the impression that the development studio had a lot of ideas, but didn’t exactly know how to tie everything together.

The gameplay has got your typical Telltale choices, but none of them really pan out. Jesse is a Mary Sue, a character that everybody loves and could do no wrong. Even if there’s a minor conflict, it is quickly resolved within 10 minutes. It gets annoying, and the sarcastic tone of every dialog choice gets old fast.

The action still follows the QTE formula, but the building and crafting in this episode are forced. The times you have to build something are given with almost no context, and the pieces you are given are limited. The crafting is also at a convenient table in the heat of battle, and just comes across as busywork. There is some action in the form of sword battles, but the slashes take up stamina and are very telegraphed.

There are also a number of bugs in this particular episode. The health meter in battle did not display properly, and the screen would go black for seconds at a time. The game was reviewed on a PlayStation 4 Pro, so your mileage may vary depending on the platform.

The fourth episode of Telltale’s Minecraft Story Mode: Season Two is rushed. The lack of focus in the story, paired with the overly random humor and bugs, make it the weakest episode by far.

This review of Minecraft: Story Mode Season Two Episode Four was written based on the PlayStation 4 version of the game. A digital code was provided by the publisher.

About author

Drawn to the underground side of gaming, Casey Scheld has made it his mission to help out the lesser known heroes of vidya. JRPGs? Indies? Quirky platformers? If you’ve never heard of it, he’s reviewed, guided, and mastered it.